The front door is the focus of most attention when one thinks about security. The living room bay window or the patio sliding door, however, often go unnoticed, despite having two weaknesses: a large glass surface and an original latch rarely designed to withstand sustained pressure.
The latch no one ever looks at
On most bay windows and sliding windows, the original locking system is a simple flip latch designed to keep the sash closed, not to resist someone pushing or lifting the leaf from the outside. Unlike a front door, no one thinks to reinforce it, because no one sees it as a full-fledged entry point.
What the figures say about window break-ins
According to Insee data from the "Living Environment and Security" survey, breaking a window accounts for 23% of the break-in methods experienced by households who are victims of burglary, far behind the forced door at 64% but ahead of climbing a balcony or fence at 18%. Bay windows and sliding doors are counted in this "window" category, without any official statistic isolating them precisely. What distinguishes this type of opening, regardless of overall statistics, lies in its mechanics: a sliding sash can often be lifted off its track or pushed away from the latch with simple pressure, without tools or the sound of broken glass.
A discreet entry point, not a rare one
The ground floor on the garden side, the terrace shielded from the street, the bay window facing a quiet path: these are configurations where forcing a bay window takes less time and attracts less attention than tackling a front door visible from the public road. The weakness is not in the volume of the statistics, but in the ease of execution for someone who has already chosen their target.
What this lock does
The sliding door lock screws onto the existing frame for reinforcement, made of die-cast zinc alloy, without professional intervention. Its bolt positions at 90 or 180 degrees, allowing for either complete locking or holding it in a slightly open position to ventilate without leaving the sash free to slide. It does not replace the original latch; it adds a second, independent one that a hurried burglar does not expect to find.
What it does not replace
A lock reinforces the closing point; it does not make the glass unbreakable. Faced with someone determined to break the glass rather than force the latch, its value becomes primarily a signal: more time required, therefore more risk of being spotted. It is logically complemented by an opening sensor, which signals the attempt even if the lock eventually gives way.
The corresponding product
The Sliding Door Lock — 90°/180° Anti-Intrusion Latch is installed by simple screwing and adapts to a bay window, a door, or a sliding window. The rest of the range is in the SentinHome catalog.
To go further
To choose which opening to equip first, see door or window. And for the other risk associated with sliding windows, that of children falling, open window, child alone.